


Biscuits & Cellys

by lil_macaroon



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Ice Hockey AU, Jealousy, No monsters aside from the ones we find in ourselves, Sports, Team Bonding, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 23:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20398156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lil_macaroon/pseuds/lil_macaroon
Summary: Set in a modern, sports au, our favorite heroes start the school year with their ice hockey teams each missing their captains. Percy Jackson, captain of Team Pegasi, is forced to leave his senior year and move to a small town not knowing if he'll even be able to play hockey again. Jason Grace, captain and star player for the Golden Eagles, is being forced to move to a small town in the middle of nowhere, with an even smaller and going nowhere ice hockey team. Will each team be able to overcome their losses and accept new strangers? Or is the season lost before it even gets started?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this tremendous comic written and drawn by Ngozi Ukazu, called Check Please. It's so good, and I would highly recommend everyone read it. You can check out the comic at your local library, or read it for [free online at her site](https://checkpleasecomic.com/comic/01-01-01)!
> 
> My entire knowledge of ice hockey comes from this series, the St. Louis Blues' Instagram page, and google. Expect biweekly updates. And they're all about this length. Chirps appreciated in the comment

“Go wait on the bleachers for me, baby,” Sally Jackson told her son as she gently pushed him in the direction of the double doors to the rink. Percy huffed and shrugged her hand off his shoulder, biting his tongue in order to not snap back at his mom. She knew he hated being called a baby. She knew his face hurt, and the knuckles of his hand were sore. He wanted to go home, not be at the stupid ice rink. But Percy figured that being suspended for the final week of 8th grade meant he wasn’t supposed to get what he wanted right now.

Hands in his pockets, he pushed the double doors open with his shoulder, letting them slam against the wall. The cold air of the rink was a sudden jar against the heat of the early June day, but a relief to the pain on his face. He allowed himself a moment of relief, before remembering he wasn’t supposed to enjoying being there and headed to the bleachers facing the rink. Percy let himself drop onto the cold, wooden bleachers and looked down at the peeling paint. He picked at it, pretending not to hear his mom talk to some guy on the far side of the rink. He pretended not to hear the near desperation in her voice as the guy probably gave her the bad news. He pretended that his everything wasn’t making things hard for his mom, and instead focused on peeling paint off the old bleachers.

The fight hadn’t even been his fault. Nancy Bobofits had been launching fries at his head during lunch and when he yelled at her to stop, her older brother Nathan stepped into the picture. That guy was just as ugly as his sister, fat around the neck with bursting, red pimples on his face. Percy hated him. And not only because he’d been held back enough times to be in the 8th grade with his younger sister, which made him a certified idiot. Nancy always started the fights, but it was well known that Nathan was the one who finished them. And as Percy had felt the ketchup fries sliding down his neck and under his shirt, he snapped and finally told Nathan he looked like the ugliest pig in the world. It was really all fists and hard concrete ground after that. 

His mom picked him still wearing her candy store uniform. In the principal’s office, Percy had tried to concentrate on the smell of chocolate and peppermint that still clung to her, instead of listening to the old man bark about what a disappointment he was, and the anger issues he had to work on before Percy started high school in the Fall. _They won’t as easy on you in High School, Perseus. A fight like that will have you suspended for longer, or worse expelled._

She hadn’t really said much to him since they got in the car. Not even a disappointed sigh, a _‘what are we going to do with you?’_, or anything. He should have known the silence meant something worse was coming. Percy tried not to listen to the adults talk, but in a silent room, their whispers seemed deafening.

“I just don’t know,” the man said, doubt evident in his voice. “We can’t really take in kids who don’t want to play. It wouldn’t be fair to the other kids on the team who want to be here.”

“Percy’s a good boy, Joe,” Sally told him. “He’ll play even if he seems like he’s not taking it seriously. I just really think this would help him refocus a lot of the anger he has.”

“We’re a no-check league Sal,” Joe replied. 

“He’s not violent Joseph,” Sally near snapped at him. “I’m not saying he should be hitting people in an appropriate setting. But you need to have strength when shooting the puck don’t you? And the focus to be skating around with the gear and everything.”

“I guess…can he even skate?” Percy couldn’t help but snort at the hesitance in Joe’s voice. He recognized the tone of the man’s voice. It was the one all adults used when they wanted him to be _someone else's problem_. He turned away from them and refocused onto the ice before him. That’s fine, he didn’t even want to play this stupid sport anyway. And of course he could skate, thank you very much. He was his father’s son after all.

The not too distant sound of a door being slammed open drew his attention and Percy gazed around until he found the source. A blond girl, about his age probably, emerged from the double doors that read “Home” just above them. Percy’s gaze followed her to one end of the rink, where the side doors were wide open. She had headphones in and completely unaware of anyone else being there. He watched as she grabbed her curls and pulled them back into a ponytail, turning the tie once, twice, three times so that everything was out of her face. Percy wondered if she was a figure skater until he saw her step out onto the ice in the old, beat-up hockey skates. She was probably going to start with some lazy warmup laps before practice or something. 

Percy can’t hear his mom or Joe anymore, but he doesn’t really care. He’s more interested in this girl who’s stretching slightly at one end of the rink. He’s wondering what kind of music she’s listening to, when suddenly the girl books it. She’s sprinting down the length of the rink and Percy’s eyes widen as he watches her nearing the opposite wall and _not slowing down_. Then bam, in a fast and tight turn, she pulls out into a hockey stop, inches away from the wall. And then she’s sprinting down to the other side, and just when Percy is sure she’s going to pull another stop, she pivots and _starts skating backward_. It’s incredible, Percy realizes as he watches astonished. She’s skating and not even looking over her shoulder as she goes into the bend of the rink. Percy watches this girl skate confidently, each stroke powerful (beautiful), that it has him on the edge of the bleacher. He never knew anyone could skate like that. 

As she skated closer to him, he could see the fierce concentration on her face, but the lines of her body showed how relaxed she was to be on the ice. Percy realized he had only ever been that relaxed in his home, eating freshly baked cookies with his mom. What must it be like, to be able to skate like that?

“That’s Annabeth,” Joe said as he came to sit beside Percy, suddenly pulling the boy from his thoughts. Percy scooted back so that he wasn’t falling out of the bleacher and in turn looking like an idiot. “She’ll be on our high school ice hockey team. We’re co-ed cause we’re a small town. Is that going to be a problem?”

Percy shakes his head, though he's still trying to watch the girl out of the corner of his eye. Of course it’s not a problem for him. He has no issues with girls playing ice hockey, especially when they skate like her. What Percy has issues with is playing ice hockey himself; he hates ice hockey. And while he can skate, he outgrew his skates a long time ago and prefers to keep it that way. “We’re also a no-tolerance team. School comes first. You miss a class, you miss practice. Suspended from school means suspended from the team, the same as expulsion. Got me?” Percy nods slowly, unsure why this man is telling him about the ice hockey team. “Mr. Brunner will be your coach. Practice is every day in the summer, you’ll start this week. Any questions?”

“Yeah, why are you telling me this? I don’t play ice hockey.” Percy’s confusion was evident, and it got a slight chuckle out of the man.

“You do now kid. Welcome to the Pegasi."


	2. Four Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four years later, and Percy is about to begin possibly the best year of his life. Or is he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I apparently don't know what bi-weekly means and forgot to post this Sunday/Monday. The day ao3 lets us schedule chapters will be a great day.

“You drool when you sleep.” 

It’s the voice that pulls him out of his sleep. The teasing tone to it, the way it feels over the skin of his face because she’s so close. He loves waking up to it, but he also hates when she’s awake this early. God, doesn’t Annabeth ever sleep in?

“Stop sleeping here then,” Percy mumbles, his voice low, rough even to his own ears. He doesn’t bother to try and clear it, and instead turns over and pulls the warmth of the duvet with him. He wipes his mouth for good measure after a couple of beats, but never opens his eyes. “More sleep,” he half begs half commands.

Annabeth of course just giggles, gives him a peck, and pulls herself away and out of bed. It leaves his back exposed to the cold, air-conditioned morning, and he grumbles. “Come on Perce, we have practice soon.” 

Percy finally gives in and opens an eye, just in time to catch Annabeth slipping into the bra he remembers pulling off her last night. He moves -drags himself- over towards the clock and groans when he sees the time. “Annabeth practice is at ten. Two more hours.” He’s so tired he can’t even be fake mad at her right now.

“I’m going for a run,” Annabeth tells him, ignoring his whining. He alternates his opened eye so he doesn’t move into being fully awake and watches her walk across his room, grabbing things that were hers. She heads towards his window and the fire escape. “Annabee, it’s been two years. You can stop going through the window,” Percy reminds her. “They definitely know you spent the night. You know my mom.” 

“If I go out the front door they’re going to offer me breakfast. If I stay for breakfast I’m definitely not making it out to my run. And if I don't run now I never will and this season we will lose because you have a slow winger.” She comes over and kisses him once more. “Besides, it gives me a sense of adventure,” she teases him and heads out. He waits to hear the clash of the emergency ladder as she pushes it back up once she’s down as if to hide the fact that she’d even used it, before he turns away from the window and the sun. Percy buries his face against the pillow she used and goes back to sleep. He manages another half hour before his alarm goes off. Grumbling, he silences it but doesn’t make to move out of the covers.

Percy lays in bed for a little while longer before he hears breakfast going. He drags himself out and into the kitchen where he plops down at the counter. “Morning,” he grumbles, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 

“Hey honey, blue chocolate chip pancakes?” his mom asks, already placing a plate of them in front of him. He frowns at the pancakes and then up at her. She and Paul are looking...off. 

“What’s wrong?” he asks instead of guessing.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Sally says. 

“These are bad news pancakes. You always use blue chocolate chip as big news pancakes. And you and Paul together mean bad news.” 

“I told you not to do the pancakes,” Paul told her. He turns to Percy, “Percy we have to talk.”

“Okay, yeah I know. Annabeth came over last night. But I swear we didn’t do anything and I told her to go out the front door but she didn’t want to get caught up with breakfast because she wants to get in a run before practice. It’s the first pre-season practice.” 

“It’s not that. Though we are going to talk about that. Percy, I got a job.”

“I know, you teach English at my high school. That’s how you and mom met,” Percy says, cutting up the pancake. Bad news pancakes or not, he wasn't going to pass up on food. 

“I _got_ a job, not I _have_ a job,” Paul corrected him automatically. “I meant that a new job. At a private high school. Great pay and benefits too. Much better than here.” 

“That’s great. It’s cool if you take it, Paul. I’m not going to be upset that you're not at school anymore. Where is it? Is it at that Ursuline school down the street?”

“It’s at Whitemore. Upstate. In Albany.”

“Wow, Albany. That’s going to be a long commute, Paul. It’s like three hours, right? They sure are paying you good,” Percy tells him, the last of the sleep still lingers in his head as he eats. He hears Paul clear his throat and then silence, which means that he and his mom are having a silent conversation. Percy looks up. “What?” 

“Percy...honey…” Sally starts. “Paul’s moving. We’re moving.”

“Moving?” 

“Yes. Next week. School starts in two weeks, and they’ve even agreed to take you in as a student for your senior year.” Percy is finally awake. He puts the fork down, the pancake turning sour in his stomach. 

“We’re moving? To Albany? For Senior Year? But hockey!”

“There’s a hockey team in Albany. Two actually.”

“But my friends are here. Annabeth. We can’t move.”

“We already told the housing manager Percy. We’ve signed a rental lease on a great house, it’s happening. You’ll see it’ll be good for all four of us.” And she taps her pregnant stomach and Percy knows this is a no-fighting situation. Anger rising, he gets up and pushes food away, mumbling that he’s no longer hungry. He ignores his mom calling him back to the counter as he goes to his room, throws on clothes, and walks back out with his stick in one hand and his hockey bag in the other.

“Hockey” is all he says, not even looking at them as he slams the door on his way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am all here for strong trust and progressive values in the Jackson/Blofis family. 
> 
> When will we get to actual hockey? Soon! There's just a lot of set up we have to go through first.


End file.
